Scotland the Brave?

Scotland the Brave?
September 14th, 2014.
“The United Kingdom consists of 90,060 square miles. David Cameron has fought tooth and nail for one of them” (the City of London)
Ian Rankin (via Aangirfan)

The Vote.

The Scottish Independence vote is only days away. When I imagined this event I assumed that the debate would be primarily in Britain,that outsiders would not seek to exert influence on the outcome. This assumption has proven completely naive. . Beginning with the US President in June, a multitude of Western leaders down to the most pathetic and clueless sidekick. have been voluminous in their support for Scotland remaining in the UK. The fear campaign against Independence has been reduced to utter desperation in the past week as Scotland’s exit from the UK suddenly emerged as a likely outcome of the referendum. The prospect of Scottish independence clearly fills the London establishment with horror, and a what began as gently cajoling, turned into a series of bizarre threats, from both the political and financial wings of the establishment.
Both the cajoling rhetoric and the threats should be seen as the ridiculous and desperate gambit of a frightened, morally bankrupt establishment pretending omnipotence. Their pathetic behavior has instead revealed the mental fragility and malignant desperation of people who know their time is over, but cannot ever admit so, even to themselves.Scotland Has a Distinct Political Culture.
Scotland has a distinctive political identity. The evidence for this lies in the fact that the Political parties preferred by Scottish voters are different than the political parties preferred by voters in the rest of the UK. The Scottish parliament comprises 129 representatives. The parties of the current UK Governing coalition, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, currently hold only 20 seats of these 129 combined, just above 15% . The three major UK parties combined, adding British Labour’s seats to the other two parties only reaches 44% of the seats. In the UK House of Commons, the same three parties hold more than 94% of the seats. These figures make it plain. here is a markedly different and distinctive political culture in Scotland compared with the rest of the UK.
Further to that, it is also clear that because of Scotland’s relatively small proportion of the overall UK population (less than 10%) this distinctive political identity struggles to find expression in the UK Westminster Parliament where Scotland elects 59 of the 650 members.
These facts indicate that the Scottish independence movement is based in much more than jingoism or petty tribalism, but arises from genuine and long-standing differences in political culture that have led to the marginalisation of Scottish voters within the UK political system.
Another noticeable thing is that Scotland has a number of serious social and health issues exemplified by the fact that the life expectancy for males in the East End of Glasgow is thirteen years fewer than for males in Iraq.
One of the massive benefits of a “Yes” vote would be the fact that Scotland would be forced to take ownership and responsibility for the economic and social problems and their solution. No longer could the “Southern bastards” in London be blamed for Scotland’s problems. The potential for liberation arising from this one simple fact is immeasurable in my opinion. There is the potential for the whole mentality of the Scottish nation to improve greatly on this basis alone. As an outsider it seems obvious that internal social attitudes and norms must be at least partially responsible for some of Scotland’s social problems. With independence the debate as to culpability and responsibility will be ended and all the energy previously wasted used for more positive ends.
One of the many ridiculous myths perpetrated by New World Order advocates is that the bigger and more distant a Government is from the people, the more benevolent and competent it will be. This is quite obviously nonsense. In fact the greater the distance, (whether physical or psychological) between the Government and the people the less accountable or understanding the relevant issues.
A national Government based in Edinburgh will have an obviously stronger knowledge of local issues, greater incentive to meet the needs of the people and generally fewer barriers than exist between the people of Scotland and the London government. This is true anywhere on earth. We all know that people in San Antonio, Texas know and understand better the problems Texas and Texans face than Washington DC bureaucrats, no matter how competent or well-intentioned, yet we are expected to pretend otherwise. The citizens of smaller nations actually have an advantage in this respect. After all, in a nation of one million, each voter carries far more weight than in a nation of 100 million. When it comes to national government’s it could be argued that smaller is better, other things being equal.
The questions that the Scottish people should ask themselves prior to voting are very simple. They are:”Is the status quo acceptable?” The answer to the first question is completely obvious. Clearly it is unacceptable that the life expectancy is 54 for men in parts of Glasgow. The second question must therefore be “Could we do better?” People who answer “No” to the second questions, should logically vote “No” in the referendum. Those who answer yes should vote “Yes”.
Scotland’s problems will not be solved by independence. Independence does however present the opportunity for Scots to assume responsibility and control of their collective future. What more could you ask for?
1978 World Cup,Archie Gemmill vs Holland

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